European Youth Event - Strasbourg 2025

In 2025, I attended the European Youth Event (EYE) in Strasbourg as part of the #iwill Ambassadors, joining thousands of young people from across Europe to imagine the future of our continent.

For me, the experience became a powerful reminder of how far we still have to go on disability inclusion. In 38-degree heat, after a three-hour queue, eight security pat-downs, and no meaningful accommodations, I overheated and had an autistic meltdown. The fire brigade was called, and instead of recognising my access needs, I was treated as a medical emergency. When I explained I was autistic and had C-PTSD, I was asked: “Why did you even come if you don’t like people?”

That moment captured a truth many disabled and neurodivergent people know too well: we are invited into spaces that claim to be inclusive, but when we arrive, the systems are still hostile, inaccessible, and unprepared for us to truly belong.

Attending the European Youth Event 2025 reinforced why I do this work. Because inclusion isn’t policy or performance - it’s culture, care, and lived reality. Until global spaces like this put accessibility at their core, disabled people will continue to be present, but excluded.

I didn’t just attend Strasbourg. I carried the truth back with me: survival isn’t enough - we need change.